WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY26,2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Pharmacy ranks high in research
Program receives third-place ranking from health institute
By Amy Potter
apotter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The School of Pharmacy at the University of Kansas has ranked in the top 10 for the fifth consecutive year in securing funding from the National Institutes of Health.
The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy recently ranked the University's pharmacy school third out of 85 pharmacy schools and colleges across the nation. The school received $10 million in NIH awards during the 2002 fiscal year.
"The ranking is due to sustained excellence on the part of our faculty and several very long grants that were submitted and successfully funded," said Jack Fincham, dean of the School of Pharmacy.
Gunda Georg, distinguished professor of medicinal chemistry, received $10 million for cancer-fighting research. Robert Hanzlik, professor of medicinal chemistry,
was awarded $10.1 million to study cellular proteins. Both grants will be distributed over five years.
The high rankings reflect a close relationship between research and teaching. Professors must be able to juggle the timely concerns of medicinal research with teaching students moving into the field.
The faculty in the School of Pharmacy understand the dual mission of research and teaching established by the University, Fincham said.
"The best researchers make the best teachers." he said.
Georg said her knowledge from research helped her in the classroom.
"The research of course brings us to the cutting edge of the field," Georg said. "You're using first hand experience you can relate to other people rather than just read about it."
To balance her research responsibilities with teaching. Georg has students e-mail her for appointments instead of having set office hours.
Allison Robl, second-year pharmacy student from Wichita, said research allowed her professors to
be up to date on the latest discoveries.
"There are a lot of drugs learned about that someone at KU developed," Robl said.
Kori
Finchman
Trussell, second-year pharmacy student from Lansing, also recognizes the importance research plays in the School of Pharmacy, but said it came at a price
"It sort of detracts on student-teacher interaction," Trussell said of professors who must balance teaching with research.
KU graduates of the school can expect a 100 percent placement rate in their field. They will make around $75,000 a year, Fincham said.
"In the pharmacy field you will find a job. Being a high ranked school has an advantage," Robl said.
The school and students will benefit from the high rankings when opportunities in the field of pharmacy are not as plentiful, Fincham said.
"There won't always be a shortage of pharmacists," he said. "As
TOP PHARMACY SCHOOLS Receiving NIH funding
1. University of California-San Francisco
2. University of Arizona
3. University of Kansas
Other Big 12 pharmacy school
8. University of Colorado
11. University of Texas
34. University of Missouri-Kansas City
38. University of Nebraska
39. University of Oklahoma
41. Texas Tech University
Source: The American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
the shortage disappears people look for other ways to evaluate graduates."
The school moved up from a fourth place ranking the previous year. Fincham expects KU to move up in rankings for the next year despite the competitiveness of the other schools.
"To move up is not an easy task," he said. "Any time you have a select few up at the top, it's difficult to move into the top echelon."
U.S. Senate gives money for life sciences
Edited by Michelle Burhenn
By Nikki Overfelt
overfelt@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Research efforts at the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas Medical Center will be getting help from the U.S. Senate.
The Omnibus Appropriations bill passed Feb. 14 by the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House-Senate Conference Committee secured $2 million in funding to the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute, said Ian
Spurgeon, a representative for Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback's office. Brownback started the effort to receive the funding in March 2002. He is a member of both the committees that passed the bill.
The Institute will give the money to the Kansas City Proteomics Consortium to use. The University and the Med Center are the only two Kansas stakeholders of the Consortium, said Bill Duncan, president of the Institute.
The Institute started the Kansas City Proteomics Consortium in Sept. 2001 to study proteins, Ducan said
"The money will be used to build infrastructure and capacity in proteomics research," Duncan said.
The money will be used to fund facilities and equipment needed to do the protein research, Ducan said. Most of it will be used for equipment, such as x-ray machines, he said.
The funding will also help the
Institute in competing for grants awarded from the National Institute of Health, Ducan said.
The percentage of the award that goes specifically to the Lawrence campus and to the Med School has yet to be determined, Ducan said. He plans on working with the Chancellor Robert Hemenway and administrators at the Med School to determine where the money will go, he said.
—Edited by Michelle Burhenn
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